Editor's Note: Anna Quindlen's commencement address to the graduating class of Grinnell College proves the power of words. As does passion and belief, knowledge and reflection.
We've "tested" this video on those self-proclaimed as cynical, left, right or center, and found everyone had a favorite moment. Many messages, beautifully crafted and provocative. Our excerpts are truly a mere glimpse - take the time whenever (under 20 minutes in total). Questioned whether to give excerpts at all - too many - best bet is to go straight to the videos.
- C.J. Westerberg
We've "tested" this video on those self-proclaimed as cynical, left, right or center, and found everyone had a favorite moment. Many messages, beautifully crafted and provocative. Our excerpts are truly a mere glimpse - take the time whenever (under 20 minutes in total). Questioned whether to give excerpts at all - too many - best bet is to go straight to the videos.
- C.J. Westerberg
Best College Graduation Speech 2011?
Video Below
Video Below
" . . . We have gone wrong in the stewardship of this nation and this
planet.
We have sometimes gone wrong in the management of our own
lives.
So I urge you today to sometimes ignore your elders, much as you love them, and to begin to say "no" to the Greek chorus that thinks it knows
the parameters of a good life
when all it knows is some one-size-fits-all version
of human experience. . . "
So I urge you today to sometimes ignore your elders, much as you love them, and to begin to say "no" to the Greek chorus that thinks it knows
the parameters of a good life
when all it knows is some one-size-fits-all version
of human experience. . . "
". . . Sometimes we were convinced conformity would make life better,
or at least easier, for you.
Sometimes we had a very hard time figuring out where we ended
and you began.
Guide us back to where we started.
Help us not to make mistakes out of fear disguised as love.
Learn not to listen to us when we are wrong,
because sometimes we are. . ."
"But I can offer you some simple guidance from Henry James,the most complex and cerebral of men, who once wrote,
'Three things in human life are important.
The first is to be kind . . .
Bring kindness back to our society."
"The mess, the mess!
That's finally what you are leaving with today, the mess
I won't apologize for that. Instead I want you to see it for what it is:
an engraved invitation to transformation.
Certainty is dead. Long live the flying leap.
Take it. Use it. Bring it. Bless you all. Congratulations. . ."
Videos Below
Orig. Published The Daily Riff, June, 2011 under Best Grad Speech 2011. Full transcript here.
Related posts The Daily Riff:
2011 Commencement Speeches: Amy Poehler at Harvard & Tom Hanks at Yale
JK Rowling Captivates Crowd at Harvard Commencement
College Drop-Out Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech: 3 Stories From My Life
Related posts The Daily Riff:
2011 Commencement Speeches: Amy Poehler at Harvard & Tom Hanks at Yale
JK Rowling Captivates Crowd at Harvard Commencement
College Drop-Out Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech: 3 Stories From My Life
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